Future Apple hardware to be powered by AMD?

Those sleuthing Apple informants seem to have struck gold once again. After noticing a continuous stream of AMD bosses and representatives travelling to and from Apple’s Cupertino campus, they’re now reporting that Apple is seriously considering the #2 chipmaker as a replacement for its current Intel offerings. Apple is thought to be unhappy with Intel, whose prolonged chip development cycle has slowed the pace of Apple’s hardware refresh and whose incompatibility with Nvidia has forced Apple to use the less than optimal integrated Intel graphics chipset. In fact, Apple’s dissatisfaction with Intel’s GPU performance is what prompted the company to develop the novel automatic graphics switching utilized by its recently refreshed MacBook Pro line-up. The hardware work-around allows the notebook to switch from the integrated Intel chipset to the more powerful NVIDIA GT 320M and GT 330M cards when needed. AMD, with its strong ties to ATI, could seemingly offer Apple greater flexibility over its future products which might one day include a powerful graphics subsytem worthy of the Apple name. Before you get too excited and sell your new Core i5 and Core i7 MBPs on eBay, keep in mind that all of this is speculation based upon the rather ambiguous, yet highly referenced “people familiar with the matter”. Respond appropriately.

They are going to have to make bigger vents on the macbooks then. AMD Chip = More Heat.

http://grrargh.com seriously

actually, AMD tends to outperform Intel on a performance per watt basis.

from tom’s hardware, “AMD’s power consumption is about on par with a Core 2 Quad Q6600 system, and noticeably lower than that of a Core i7 platform system. When it comes to overall energy consumption, AMD makes a much better showing thanks to its more energy efficient chipsets.”

if you just love intel, go ahead and be upset about the idea that apple could switch. as a computer engineer myself (an architect for a microprocessor no less) i prefer the AMD parts. the only disadvantage to AMD is that so much code is compiled using intel’s tool-chain which artificially stunts AMDs performance. somehow i doubt apple would use intel’s toolchain if they made the switch, so an interesting result might be that any given AMD based hardware set may perform better when running macosx than it would running windows. that would give apple a pretty useful marketing tool, where people used to compare apple’s RISC processors to intel chips and say “why go 1.5GHz when you could go 3.0GHz”? – apple could now say, “why get only 80% of what you paid for, buy apple” — or something along those lines. yes, it’s a cheap marketing ploy. no, i don’t think apple is ‘above’ using such a ploy.

Gsm1

And in other non news, the second 1.5 yahoo phone, is still not released. I really hope Htc pulls the plug on At&t. what a shame it will be to have the desire butcherd. Why am I saying this on an apple thread? because most them are.

MacBastard

That’s irony for you! One of the main reasons Apple ditched the PowerPC CPU from Motorola and IBM was the glacial pace of their chip development, too. Now they might bin Intel for the same reason. Huh!

MacBastard

That’s irony for you! One of the main reasons Apple ditched the PowerPC CPU from Motorola and IBM was the glacial pace of their chip development. Now they might bin Intel for the same reason. Huh!

Pete

@Jerry Marcus,

I guess I missed where this post had anything to do with the iPhone.

Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

TNSF

Not gunna happen. No way.

TNSF

You guys can poo poo my comment all you want, but there is a serious obstacle to Apple adopting AMD: brand perception.

Apple is a premium brand that people pay a premium price for. AMD is a second rate brand that is regarded as nothing more than the brand you choose when you can’t afford what you really want: Intel.

How would Apple’s loyal customer base respond to an association of the Apple brand with AMD? Not well.

I think there is a better chance of Apple buying AMD than putting AMD processors in Macs.

ChocoTaco

Damn those i7’s. They suck so hard.

I know I curse my computer daily with its i7 920, 6GB of 1600MHz triple channel ram running at 7-7-7-18 and the Radeon HD5700. What a slouch that is.

Yup, Intel is definitely crap.

ChocoTaco

Oh, and don’t get me wrong, I’m an AMD fan. I’ve built AMD systems. Unfortunately, in the past year or two, AMD simply hasn’t been able to compete with Intel when it comes to raw performance (take price out of it). I would love for AMD to get back on top with performance. I like rooting for the little guy. But to say Apple isn’t happy with Intel because of performance is ridiculous. They’re top-of-the-line currently for performance. If Apple doesn’t like Intel for some reason, I’m willing to bet it’s because Intel won’t institute some type of standard of control to the system somehow. Anytime Apple is unhappy with someone, it’s usually because the product limits Apple’s autonomy in some reason and allows the consumer to do something Apple thinks they either shouldn’t do at all or should have to pay extra for.

Jon

But their graphics isn’t top of the line, which is the reason they’re contemplating a switch.. no?

vtechonda

Your name wouldn’t happened to be tom would it…

FrankieFlo

What’s an iphone???

http://www.sean-the-electrofreak.blogspot.com/ Electro

I don’t see any kind of exclusive arrangement between Apple and AMD as likely. At all.

As much as I love AMD and as much as I hate Apple, the only way AMD is competitive right now is via price point. In order for Apple to sell a “premium” product, it has to maintain the image that it’s on the cutting edge. And it pains me to admit, AMD is not there right now.

I could see Apple pushing AMD-run computers at a lower price point to help keep inventory issues to a minimum, and to satisfy the “I don’t care what’s inside as long as it has an Apple logo” group of consumers, which IMO is a frightneningly large group of (L)users.

I’m sorry, my finger must have slipped.

Scott

As a PC builder and having built more Intel systems than AMD, I’ve yet to ever see an issue with an Intel chip, chipset and/or graphics cards (Nvidia or ATI). The Core series CPUs have been out a while. Not Intel’s fault it took Apple so long to update their hardware.

Also, you gotta give the crown to Intel in the performance category. AMD has them beat on price though. But since Apple already charges a premium, I’d rather have faster hardware.

Cold Dead Fingers

You’re an idiot. If apple is going to have high demand for the products, then they need to have the fucking supply. Their was high demand for the core ix series and that prevented apple from releasing the computers earlier. That’s the price for being the number 1 processor ,manufacture, some company will get tired of waiting.

TC

Seriously?

Read much?

Tyson

I have no problem with my AMD system I build now the question is will the prices come down?

ThomSirveaux

You have to understand Apple’s point of view here: If they don’t come out with a refreshed device every year, then they are behind the times.

Also, @Scott, Intel doesn’t like to play that well with ATI cards, nor do nVidia’s cards play nice with AMD’s chips. It’s one reason why I don’t trust hardware reviews that don’t pit AMD chips with ATI cards, and Intel chips with nVidia cards. If you start to cross between them, you get some pretty hinky glitches from time to time.

pk de cville

Hmmmmmmm…

AMDs mkt cap is $6.6B today. Apple has $40B. They could buy AMD for $10B…

Also, the A4 chip rumored to be either a special ARM Cortex A8 designed by Apple, built by Samsung… or a special super performant PA Risc chip designed by Apple, built by Samsung.

Just thinkin’….

TC

I was thinking the same thing. Then we’d be back to Apple playing a much larger role in engineering their own platforms.

Robfactory

AMD owns ATI.
so it’s not a strong ties.

Robfactory

Correction
Since AMD owns ATI they are able to have advanced features.
Something Intel and Nvidia cannot do because they are not working together.

Henry Earl

“a powerful graphics subsytem worthy of the Apple name”

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

oh man, that’s rich. Can you pass the pipe, please?

Martin

Wow, what a silver lining on a dark (stunted growth) cloud looming over AMD! This partnership with Apple is going to give AMD a much needed breath of fresh air and put them back on track of turning more of that revenue into actual net income!

AMD’s making a come back, look out!

MicroNix

AMD had (and I stress had) the upper hand 2 1/2 years ago. Test after test showed AMD kicking Intel on I/O and it seemed they were poised to be a leader. Then the quad core f’up took all the steam out of the engine and allowed Intel with its huge R&D budget to develop the i7 architecture which took every last advantage AMD had and threw it so hard into the ground that it came out the other side of the earth.

I was really rooting for AMD, but you want to talk about someone that is going to slow down hardware development! They’ve been delaying chip after chip because they can’t get it right. To say this move is to grow product faster for Apple isn’t using a careful watch. My guess it has something to do with the Atom processor starting to run Android. We all know how much Stevie loves Android these days and how bitter he can get at the least little development that doesn’t have his name attached to it.

Dio

Apple did not pioneer the graphics switching tech- asus has had it for over 6 months

Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

NuShrike

What is Kelly smoking?

Integrated graphics were never meant to replace discrete graphics. Point out a platform where non-intel integrated graphics was better? None! everybody uses a dual integrated/discrete setup for years at this point. This is ignoring the fact the recent IntelHD graphics has improved integrated to the point where you can play 2D HD movies on it well, and it saves a lot more power than going discrete.

And, it’s not original to Apple either. Open the blinders, or back up your claims.

TC

Read the freaking article, lightning.

Apple’s approach to graphics switching is unique, more advanced than Optimus

TC

And, are you trying to say that Intel’s integrated graphics are adequate?

For anything?

Seriously?

NuShrike

So it’s quite obvious you don’t have one and just randomly ranting.

I however, do have one on my i5, and can do Youtube, web browsing in Firefox or Chrome, Flash games, desktop publishing, Word, OpenOffice, Visual C/C++, mobile device development, torrents, Skype, Media Player Classic with HD video, OpenGL video player I wrote for work that deals with 4x HD resolution, and the list continues.

The only reason I’d ever had so far to NOT use the integrated is for HDMI out. I have yet to try WoW, but I doubt I’d need turn on the 330M most of the time unless I need high FPS for something.

It’s either equivalent or better than most NetBook graphics people are happy with so it follows GMA HD is adequate for most things.

crescentdave

Seems to me that Apple was the slow one getting out the gate with the i7. Horribly slow and horribly behind the PC world’s implementation of the i7.

Keymaker

I doubt it, Apple might try to buy AMD but i don’t see them going from intel to AMD. I remember Steve saying that AMD makes great chips for server but that they where already happy with intel for their PCs.

This would just prove my point that Apple will lose the ‘fight’ that it is the hardware that makes the platform (currently made with iPhone). Just as Apple moved to x86, the AMD move would tend to show it is the software we, the user, cares about. Apple & AMD connection could be for low-power chips since Apple really throttles down power to conserve battery life…

However, Apple could be playing ‘I need a better price or I’ll shop…’

Counsel

Jobs always has an opinion and did support PowerPC when others were looking elsewhere. Sort of like multi-tasking, copy-paste, etc. Everyone should study Apple’s marketing… Like politics, nobody seems to remember past statements due to being excited about the new release/feature.

anthony

get amd and I will actually buy apple again! i have not owned apple since they went away from power pc!